Japi's Blog

My New Job - Houston Market Manager at Group O Marketing Solutions

I've had several friends and family ask about my new job.... and a dear friend suggested I post it here so I don't have to keep repeating myself <grin>.

So I left Schipul after four amazing years of learning, growing and producing. I enjoyed the work more than any other job I've had - the people there are brilliant, the work is challenging and fun and I am certain their future is extremely bright!! I will bleed Schipul burnt orange or Tendenci maroon for many years.

It took me a few months to get the right offer from the right company - Group O Marketing Solutions.

Group O was founded in 1974 by Robert Ontiveros, originally named Bi-State Packaging which was started to sell packaging materials and equipment to manufacturers. The company has grown to over $350 million per year and was recognized this year as the 20th largest Hispanic-owned company in the U.S. by Hisoanic Business magazine.

Group O is based in Milan (pronounced mīˌlän), Illinois and has three divisions:

1. Marketing Solutions
2. Packaging Solutions and
3. Supply Chain Solutions

I was hired by Group O Marketing Solutions as a Market Manager for Houston. I have been tasked with putting together and managing a team of salespeople to market and sell a product for a major telecommunications company... one that has three letter in its name and two are repeated <grin>.  We can use its name when we talk, but not in print.

I have an amazing support team that is helping me put together the team... everyone I've met and worked with are very intelligent, hard-working and fun, so I feel great about this job!

Our goal is to build and grow the business in Houston and San Antonio the next 4 months so that we will be offered additional markets in Texas and eventually around the U.S.

I am extremely excited about the opportunity in front of me and the trust that Group O has placed in me. I will continue to inform of my progress as we meet and beat the numbers... the goal is to have a productive team of 50 here in Houston and 30 in San Antonio in the next few months.

Sorry if I can't say more than that, but if I gave away too much info, I'd have to take all of you out and I wouldn't want to lose my small fan-base <grin>.

San Antonio Zoo ROCKS!!

I recently visited San Antonio and had a couple of hours to spend at their zoo.... I love visiting zoos!

Since my previous employer, Schipul - The Web Marketing Company, created the Houston Zoo Web site and I've had the opportunity to visit it several times, I always compare it to the other ones I've visited.

So far, I've visited zoos in Chicago, National Zoo in Washington D.C., New Orleans, Caracas (Venezuela), San Antonio and Houston.

Well, out of the zoos I've visited I really like the Houston, D.C. ... but my favorite zoo is now in San Antonio.  I have yet to visit the San Diego Zoo, which I hear is mecca!  But the San Antonio Zoo could teach the Houston Zoo quite a lot.

In most cases, I was just a few feet away from the animals.  The animals were all very active (not sure what they do, but it's true).  The habitats were unbelievably beautiful and fitting for each type of animal.  I really enjoyed visiting it even though I was unable to see it all.

I've been visiting the Houston Zoo for over 20 years and have seen amazing improvements... but after seeing their counterpart just 3 hours to the west, I was amazed by the difference.  I actually shouldn't have been surprised because San Antonio has always had a strong focus on tourism - starting with the creation of the river walk in the 1940's - THAT'S VISION!  Who was thinking about tourism in Texas in the 1940's???

If you are ever in the Alamo city, you should definitely visit the San Antonio Zoo, I highly recommend it.  Now if I could just get them to become a Schipul client.... hmmm :)

If you want to see some of the photos I took at the San Antonio Zoo, go to my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/japi14

Obama's First Presidential Campaign Commercial

Barack Obama released his first commercial for the Presidential Campaign.  It re-introduces Senator Obama to the public. 

I hope it opens people's eyes and hearts to the message of his campaign.... the minute-long spot shows the democratic nominee in an honest and calm demeanor.

Senator Obama's campaign also announced today that they would not use public funds for the Presidential run.  He is the first Presidential campaign to forgo these funds since the early '70s when this funding was established.

Obama's campaign has over 1.5 million individual donors and most of the donations are of less than $100.  By using only donated funds, Obama's campaign does not have spending limits. 

Maybe I'm naive or there's something I don't understand, but by not taking public money.. isn't this good?  Senator McCain is slamming Obama for this move... but the Republican 527 groups will be spending quite a lot of money to run negative ads - this move allows Obama to be able to match the money spent by these groups to be able to counter those ads.

It's going to be a very interesting campaign.

Hillary Finally Does It Right

After months of bitter Democratic primary battles... Hillary Clinton gave an great speech to put her support behind Barack Obama. 

I don't know if it's a good idea for Obama to put her on the ticket as the running mate... I think she can help bring more votes, but her campaign has been very different from Obama's and I don't believe she is an agent of change... she has a lot of old-time Washington politics baggage PLUS her husband. 

So I think it would be better to ask her to lead the healthcare reform for Obama or something along those lines.

But if she were placed on the ticket, I would still vote for Obama-Hillary.

Here's a short snippet of her speech this past Saturday:

Senator Obama's Quotes Taken Out of Context

I received an email from a family member with the following:

This guy wants to be our President and control our government. Pay close attention to the last comment!!  Below are a few lines from Obama's books ' his words:

1. From Dreams of My Father:  'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
2. From Dreams of My Father :  'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
3. From Dreams of My Father:  'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
4. From Dreams of My Father:  ; 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
5. From Dreams of My Father:  'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
6. From Audacity of Hope:  'I will stand with the Muslims, should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

I was quite upset by it so I decided to research the context of each of these (since I HAVE read the books and my perception is that the family member who sent me this has not).  If they had read the books, I'm pretty certain they would not be sending these quotes taken out of context... it's pretty sad that there are so many people out there willing to take just a tidbit of information and make their minds up about someone without really delving into the truth. 

I think it's somewhat understandable because we have a finite amount of time to spend on certain things... but this particular presidential election is too important to just read the quotes.  I am not a Rhodes Scholar... but I've educated myself on the differences between the candidates... none of them are perfect, they all have good and bad ideas... but I believe Obama gives us the best option.... but that's obviously my opinion from what I've read.

Here are the 6 quotes mentioned above in more detail... you decide if they are accurate as stated above or if they make more sense (and you agree with them) when placed in the proper context.

1. The quotes of Dreams From My Father are all race-related...
   1. 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
   2. 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
   3. 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
   4. 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
   5. 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
   • In the book Dreams of My Father, Senator Obama describes his teenage years as he struggled with his identity... as every single teenager has done throughout history.  The quote explains how he saw himself, as white or a black?
   • This is from a response on answers.yahoo.com:
     • The book is about how growing up Barack came to reconcile being of mixed heritage. "Dreams from my Father", pertains to that conflict in his youth, and how he came to resolve it. He writes about how he romanticized the life of his absent black father who he never knew and resented his mother, and how growing up changed his views on things
     • Read the book. Don't just find a few quotes that describe a conflict he felt at the age of 13 and pass it off as views he holds right now. He wrote the book to document how he came to reconcile the issue of race in his life
   • If you understand the concepts of the book, Dreams From My Father, you will see the process he went through to get to the point where he is now.
   • A better statement of his current views can be obtained from the speech he made in Philadelphia.  The description of the race issues in the U.S. that he gave in that speech are amazingly similar to mine and (I'm sure) most people.
2. The quote from "The Audacity of Hope" ( 'I will stand with the Muslims, should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.') is completely chopped... here's the full version from the book:
   • "Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

It's really sad that these quotes are either taken out of context or adjusted to fit the needs of the ultra-right to scare people into not voting for an amazing candidate.  If you really want to understand what Obama offers, read one or both books (with a truly open mind) and make up your mind aftewards.

I don't think Obama is perfect, he's far from it... as we ALL are.  But out of the candidates running for president, I believe he offers the best option... read Oabama's views on the REAL issues and compare them to McCain's views... TRULY INFORM YOURSELF! 

I believe Senator Obama can bring both sides together to move our country in a positive direction.  In my opinion, Hillary would give us a similar polarization (on the opposite end) as we have witnessed with Bush... and I believe McCain would continue the policies that the Bush administration has supported and that would be a big mistake.

Read the books and make an educated decision on who you think would be the best leader for the nation.... don't just read a few lines and believe their message without understanding the whole story.

Guy Kawasaki at The Houston Technology Center

Guy Kawasaki came to Houston yesterday evening to give a talk at The Houston Technology Center.  I had seen him give a talk called a couple of years ago at the NTC 2006 in Seattle and it was fantastic!  So I was very excited about the event.

I was not dissappointed... Guy was phenomenal, gracious, hilarious, brilliant and just freakin' AWESOME!  His presentation was called "The Art of the Start".  Guy was amazingly gracious in staying wayyy longer than anyone expected. He took every question and even went partying (from what I understand) with some local Kawastalkers (no need to name names). <grin> 

Guy also showed us alltop.com which is a site that covers a variety of interesting topics... he specifically showed us:

• http://career.alltop.com/
• http://moms.alltop.com/
• http://egos.alltop.com/
• http://twitter.alltop.com/
• http://humor.alltop.com/
• http://adoption.alltop.com/

We've posted some pictures of the event on the HTC Web site.

I was also really excited to run into some old friends and met new ones... here's a short list of some of the folks I encountered last night (sorry if I missed anyone):

1. Erica O'Grady
2. Christine Selleck
3. Imelda Bettinger
4. Laura Mayes
5. Tracey Lee Wallace
6. Monica Danna
7. Holly Gunn
8. Kelsey Ruger
9. Richard Yoo
10. Dwight Silverman of The Houston Chronicle
11. Marc Nathan of The Houston Technology Center
12. AND I GOT TO MEET.... are you ready?... Jenny Lawson... The Bloggess!

Since several other folks have blogged about this event, I wanted to do something slightly different.... I decided to copy and paste a bunch of the tweets that were posted on Twitter during the event.  Some of them are obviously funny, others you have no idea what they mean... but here's the list, enjoy:

1. she's in beta with our second child
2. Laura Mayes of skirt has been called out several times... Freakin' awesome
3. Most people think rich and smart parses to smart. No. Most of the time it parses to 'lucky'
4. There is no reason for the survival of Apple but that there is a benevolent God
5. 2 kinds of bozos. rich and famous are the most dangerous bozos. rich/famous usually parses to lucky
6. Don't let the bozos grind you down
7. Find the influencers. the higher you go in most orgs, the thinner the air. harder to support intelligent life. CX0 are dumbest people who sucked up the longest. smartest are the influencers. not ultimate decision makers
8. i believe in god because there is no other explanation for the survival of Apple than a benevolent god
9. seed the clouds ... how you make the rain. "let a hundred flowers blossom". plant fields of flowers
10. Sales fix everything
11. Embrace your evangelists
12. embrace your evangelists... people who get it and want to help you because they believe you/they are making world a better place
13. don't ask someone to do something you would not do
14. lower the barriers to adoption. flatten the learning curve - "plug it in and it works
15. Hire people who are better than you
16. hire better than yourself ... that's very hard to do, but everyone knows they should do it
17. apple hired me because they were willing to ignore the irrelevant
18. hire infected people - infected with a love of what you
19. 10/20/30 rule of powerpoint - 10 slides is optimal number of slides in powerpoint presentation
20. holy grail of marketing - provide something only you can do that provides high value
21. All you white people look alike

So there's the list.... and if you ever have the opportunity to watch Guy Kawasaki... do anything and everything (even slashing someone's tires) to be there.... he's worth every second!

Has the term "journalistic ethics" become an oxymoron?

Last night, ABC News hosted a debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  It has been a somewhat insane primary season with ugly politics being played at every turn.... and last night was one of the ugliest examples of it thus far.

I recorded the debate and began watching it at 9:30 PM or so... it was a 2 hour debate so I was pretty tired as it ended.  During the whole debate, I was not quite sure what was going on (I'm guessing it was due to being sleepy) - I just knew something wasn't quite right.

In every debate so far, Senator Obama has been poised and risen above the "politics as usual" attacks thrown his way.  Senator Clinton has had good and bad moments in the debates - personally, I have not been impressed by her performance in them.  She seems bitter and uses attack politics to try to make herself look better than her opponent.  I believe voters are smart enough to see through her and the results of the primaries are proof of that as Senator Obama has a commanding lead in delegates and popular vote.

Well, back to last night...I went to sleep not truly understanding what I had just witnessed.  This morning I received an email from an old time friend, Marcia, explaining exactly what had happened - Senator Obama had been railroaded!  My initial reaction was "naw, we're just being paranoid"... then I started reading and found out that YES, horrible multi-level political attacks had been leveled at Senator Obama... and here's a small sample of the public and media backlash:

1. The ABC News Web site has received over 18,000 comments regarding the debate and just looking at the first few pages, it's obvious that the public is outraged by the lack of professionalism and journalistic integrity shown last night by both George Stephanopoulus and Charlie Gibson.  People have posted numerous comments demanding they be fired and about once or twice per page, there's a comment complimenting the debate (some of these could have been planted by ABC News). Some of the more interesting comments include:
   • "I am very disappointed that it abc spent half of its precious national debate time on questions about lapel pins and guilt by association. As a high school social studies teacher trying to interest young people in the genuine policy issues faced by our republic, I am stunned that what used to be one of our top three television news organizations would ignore so many crucial issues in order to rehash personal topics that just make the American people more cynical. The debate was a disservice." - jcrider5344
   • "I can't believe I once took Charles Gibson to be a serious journalist. I actually believed that he could replace Peter Jennings. Was I wrong! Given that Hillary's husband was once George Stephanopoulos' boss, I didn't expect much from him. Nevertheless, I decided to watch the debate because of Charlie. Thanks, Charlie. You've lost a long-time fan." - vetforobama
   • "Gibson, Stephanopoulos...clearly hitmen. Ten million viewers watched as ABC News destroyed its reputation." - chyxct98
2. The blogs are blowing up with postings ripping ABC News, George and Charles:
   1. On AlterNet:
      1. ABC Blows It!
      2. Worst. Debate. Ever.
      3. Debate: ABC Decides Top Issues Facing Americans Are Flag Pins and '60s Radicals
   2. On The Huffington Post:
      1. ABC Debate: High Ratings, Critics Give Broadcast Poor Reviews
      2. Obama Criticizes Debate, Attacks Clinton For Being "In Her Element"
      3. David Brooks Praises ABC, Debate, Because He Lacks...
      4. The ABC Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media
   3. The Guardian in the UK:
      1. US network faces backlash after Democratic debate
      2. Debate moderators force Obama on defensive
   4. Editor & Publisher:
      1. Clinton-Obama Debate: ABC Hit on Focus on Minor Issues
   5. The Boston Globe:
      1. Gibson, Stephanopoulos criticized for work on debate
      2. Obama says debate focused on 'gotcha,' not policy issues
   6. Philly.com
      1. ABC gets an earful after debate
      2. Does Gibson Know The Constitution? (64 comments)
   7. In The Washington Post:
      1. In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC (over 200 comments)
      2. A Debate About the Future (hundreds of comments)
   8. Daily Kos:
      1. Let's Be Absolutely Clear About Last Night's Debate (501 comments)
      2. As a former ABC News employee, I have to say... (225 comments)

It's really sad to see how such a strong news network which has produced great journalists like Peter Jennings and Ted Koeppel has stooped this low.

The debate was held at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center which is beautiful, educational and represents the founding of our nation, and this makes the mess that ABC News called a debate even worse.

In my opinion, George Stephanopoulus should have said "I cannot participate in this debate since I could be biased."  But he (and ABC News) obviously did not care about journalism ethics - they attacked Senator Obama relentlessly and I am hopeful that the nation noticed the travesty - especially the voters of Pennsylvania and they show it in next week's primary!

Glenn Beck - America's Addiction

I had a the pleasure of meeting Glenn Beck about 3 years ago on a visit to Philadelphia when he was doing his live, nationally syndicated radio show.  The opportunity came about because his radio show was looking to use our Tendenci software.  Glenn was very gracious and sat down to talk for about 10 minutes during a break on his radio show.

I came across an article he wrote called "America needs a 12-step program" which describes how the government used to be afraid of the people... and now it's the other way around.  He suggests a six-step program to get the country back in the hands of the people:

1. Admit we are not powerless.
2. Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.
3. Decide to take our power back.
4. Make a complete and fearless moral inventory.
5. Admit our wrongs, and our rights.
6. Be ready to remove our defects.

The article is dead-on target! We DO need to take back our government.

Body of War - A Powerful Documentary

Ellen Spiro (a friend of my brother Joaquin) and Phil Donahue have produced and directed a powerful documentary called Body of War. 

It is the story of a young man, Tomas Young, who joins the military to fight the evil doers and is wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Here's a synopsis from the film's Web site:

"Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it's like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man."

Watch the preview below:

Obama Volunteer Corps at Habitat for Humanity

Obama Volunteer Corps worked this weekend to assemble walls for a future Habitat for Humanity home building project.

Here's a video of the work we did.